Running head: THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCEPTING AND EMBRACING LGBTQIA+ YOUTH 1

The Importance of Accepting and Embracing LGBTQIA+ Youth

Gray McCaffrey
Connecticut College
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Abstract
LGBTQ+ people are highly marginalized in almost all societies today. Facing bullying, violence,

discrimination, harassment, and other struggles is a daily battle for many LGBTQ-identified

people. In a human development context, it’s important to consider how the youth are affected

by such marginalization, and how in such a state they can formulate their identities, find support,

and ultimately be secure in their identities. It’s crucial to understand how and why cultures

oppress LGBTQ+ individuals, and also what may make certain cultures more tolerant and

accepting than others. Additionally, in tolerant cultures even, it’s important to understand what

LGBTQ+ youth require to succeed in all aspects of life. As a society, we can try to understand,

though there is no single clear-cut solution to homophobia. The literature review in this paper

will identify some problems LGBTQ+ people face in society in addition to the importance of

safe spaces as a potential first-step solution. The ultimate goal of this paper is to illustrate that the

acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals is essential to the development of LGBTQ+ youth

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Review of Literature
Understanding the history of how LGBTQ+ identities have been treated in scientific

fields is essential if the plan is to change this treatment. In GLBTQ Inc.’s Developmental

Psychology, Arlene Istar Lev references the well-known human development theories- from

Piaget to Erikson to Brofenbrenner. The paper points out that “all these conventional models of

human development have either ignored lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender development or

have seen it as pathological.” Lev also points out that the developmental theories surrounding

LGBTQ+ identities that do exist portray these identities as abnormal, such as Kohlberg’s

problematic theory of gender identity acquisition, which essentially paints transgender people as

pathologically abnormal. In response, he introduces several non-pathological theories and studies

associated with formation of LGBTQ+ identities, such as the research of Vivienne Cass, who

proposed a six-stage identity discovery process, and Richard Trioden, who introduced a four-

stage age-based model of queer identity discovery, development, and acceptance. However, it’s

also acknowledged that these models have all “assumed a stable, core sexual orientation” and

that “consequently, most of the work has been focused on gay men and lesbians” as well as being

primarily focused on western culture. His paper details a basic knowledge of the development of

queer identities as well as the lack of in depth research on such identities.

An additional resource that discusses queer identities is Alexis Henshaw’s paper

involving attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people. Henshaw studies information from past researchers

such as Inglehart and Welzel to illustrate the attitudes of certain societies towards LGBTQ+

individuals, focusing on which types of societies tend to be the most tolerant. Henshaw also calls

into question the “rising tide” hypothesis by Inglehart and Welzel, which suggests that societies

undergo a natural modernization during peaceful times and that the world is on the fast track to

gender equality; they especially focus on the role of religion in the progression of tolerance and
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acceptance in societies. This research is important for understanding how certain societies may

impact LGBTQ+ individuals in terms of heteronormativity, blatant discrimination, and more.

Henshaw used the World Values Survey to test several hypotheses on tolerance and acceptance,

analyzing several variables such as religious beliefs, military service, and self-expression

variables to compute general tolerance. Through this, Henshaw illustrates that tolerance is highly

variable among cultures, and it can’t be concluded that there is any general trend in acceptance

since many places around the world have such differing societal opinions on queer identities.

The research also suggests that the public opinion internalizes government policy, and Henshaw

concludes with the hope that this research can lead to further understanding of how to achieve

tolerance and acceptance.

Additional research that relates to both Lev and Henshaw’s work was done by Robert W.

Mitchell and Lana Dezarn. They conducted a study in which observed differing attitudes towards

LGBTQ+ behavior based on what information participants believed- that being gay was genetic,

environmental, or a choice. The results showed that people were inclined to be kinder towards

LGBTQ+ identities when they believed that such identities were genetically determined rather

than a choice or a circumstantial behavior. This research connects with Lev’s paper by

illustrating a trend in the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth in context of mainstream society’s beliefs

about their identities, and with Henshaw’s paper by illustrating that the “rising tide” doesn’t

seem so evident when something as simple as beliefs over why people are LGBTQ+ can sway

peoples’ opinions so prominently. This study relates to the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth in

context of mainstream society’s beliefs about their identities, and also the policing of queer

identities- i.e., people thinking being gay is only okay if people behave in a certain manner. The

study revealed a variety of information about tolerance, for instance, when introduced
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information stating that queer identities are biologically based, tolerance scores weren’t

necessarily increased, which showed how rooted anti-LGBTQ beliefs can be in American

society. Additionally, it was found that “men, less educated, and religious participants were less

tolerant than women, more educated, and nonreligious participants”. This research also raised the

question of what the best theory to explain homosexuality (genetic, environmental, or choice)

truly is, given that being told there was the most evidence for a genetic explanation didn’t seem

to sway opinions, and also that a genetic explanation for homosexuality was used by the Nazis to

oppress people.

While studies pointing out inequalities towards the LGBTQ+ community are prominent

and important, it’s also important to find studies detailing what can be done to diminish these

inequalities. One such study was done by members of the Department of Human and

Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University, who examined the relationship between

the presence of a school GSA and student reports of harassment at school. The GSA, or Gay-

Straight Alliance, is a program instated in many American middle and high schools to serve as a

safe space for LGBTQ+ students and to make the school a safer place for these students. The

researchers reviewed data from 15 main studies with 62,923 participants overall to examine the

effect of GSAs, and found that “GSA presence is associated with significantly lower levels of

youth’s self-reports of homophobic victimization, fear for safety, and hearing homophobic

remarks, and these results are robust, controlling for a variety of study-level factors.” These

results suggest that LGBTQ+ youth need support systems and/or safe spaces specific to their

LGBTQ+ identities, and that organizations like GSAs may provide means of “protecting

LGTBQ+ youth from school-based victimization.”

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An additional study was conducted by Mary Anna Robertson of the University of

Colorado to study safe spaces and identity development. She demonstrates by studying

adolescents who frequent LGBTQ+ centers and safe spaces four processes for identity

development- violating compulsory heterosexuality, seeking an explanation, exploring sexuality,

and negotiating identity. She interviewed a variety of adolescents, mainly men, to illustrate this.

Through her research, she concludes that safe spaces for queer youth are incredibly important to

the process of identity formation and a general feeling of security in an educational environment,

especially given that the dominant culture rejects these identities that are so fundamental to them.

Additionally, she concludes that meeting people who also identify as LGBTQ+ is important to

these youth, as they are able to connect to people who can confidently serve as a support system.
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References
Henshaw, A. (2014). Geographies of tolerance: Human development, heteronormativity, and

religion. Sexuality & Culture, 18(4), 959-976. doi:10.1007/s12119-014-9231-8

Lev, A. I. (2015). Developmental psychology. GLBTQ Social Sciences, , 1-6.

Marx, R. A., & Kettrey, H. H. (2016). Gay-straight alliances are associated with lower levels of

school-based victimization of LGBTQ+ youth: A systematic review and meta-

analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,45(7), 1269-1282. doi:10.1007/s10964-016-

0501-7

Mitchell, R., & Dezarn, L. (2014). Does knowing why someone is gay influence tolerance?

genetic, environmental, choice, and 'reparative' explanations. Sexuality & Culture, 18(4),

994-1009. doi:10.1007/s12119-014-9233-6

Robertson, M. A. (2014). 'How do I know I am gay?': Understanding sexual orientation, identity

and behavior among adolescents in an LGBT youth center. Sexuality & Culture: An

Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 18(2), 385-404. doi:10.1007/s12119-013-9203-4